1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to maze apparatus and, more specifically, to a changeable maze apparatus designed for use with a predator and prey game. The maze of the present invention embodies a plurality of substantially upright partitions that are raised and lowered to create the walls and paths of the maze.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous maze apparatus designed for recreation have been provided in prior art. For example U.S. Pat. Nos. 496,604; 545,678; 760,032; 4,154,440; 5,046,720; 5,364,311; 5,499,815; 5,809,708; 5,855,371; 5,906,373; and 5,971,830 are all illustrative of such prior art. While these recreational maze apparatus may be suitable for the purposes for which they were designed, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention, as hereinafter described.
This invention relates to improvements in that class of buildings known as labyrinths, and which are provided with a series of complicated passages; and the object is to provide amusement and numerous novel complications.
The primary object of this invention is to provide such an arrangement of mirrors in a room or enclosure as shall cause them, by their reflection of objects suitably located with relation to the mirrors, to present to the vision of a person in the apartment the illusion of a labyrinthian device composed of seemingly endless passages, which appear to him to be freely traversable until he is stopped in his course by an obstructing mirror, from which long passages seem to extend to the right and to the left.
This invention relates to improvements in that class of buildings known as labyrinths and has for its object to provide an extensive and durable structure of this character particularly designed for erection and used in parks and other public places as an amusement device.
A maze apparatus adapted for use as a walk-through recreational facility. The apparatus includes a supporting surface carrying a plurality of substantially upright partitions which serve to define the maze course having a plurality of interconnected pathways along which movement of persons through the maze is restricted. Persons enter the course through an entrance opening into one of the pathways and progress along a bewildering array of interconnected pathways to gain egress from the apparatus course through a suitable exit. The partition panels can readily be arranged for rescheduling the maze course, which includes a predetermined shortest route having vital sections which must be traversed in order to reach the exit. A platform is provided in one embodiment which enables spectators standing thereon to view indicia carried by patrons walking through the maze apparatus to the end that the spectators can assist in directing the patrons along the pathways leading to the exit.
An amusement maze is located inside of a building and defines a labyrinth walking path. The maze is formed by upright flexible panels which are appropriately arranged in selected longitudinally and laterally extending patterns. The panels are supported by ropes anchored to a single sidewall of the building and are suspended above the floor of the building by wires which extend upwardly to the ceiling.
A collapsible labyrinth is constructed with a plurality of collapsible separating boards temporarily secured by vertical pivotal posts, two horizontal bars respectively on and under a line of separating boards to secure upper and lower ends of the pivotal posts, and tenons fitting in a mortise in a lower end of each separating board and also in one of tenon holes present in the ground for securing temporality each separating board so that the boards can be altered in position to make up a labyrinth route.
A maze unit containing a user-defined maze path and a ball or marble movable there through is disclosed. In one aspect, the top of the maze unit, or part of it, is covered so that the user relies upon verbal instructions provided by a second person who is familiar with or has recorded the internal maze path as to the direction in which to tip or tilt the unit so that the ball or marble follows the correct path to a predetermined exit. In one embodiment two or more maze units are stacked, one on top of the other, with aligned exit and entry holes so that a ball or marble that successfully traverses an upper unit falls into an entry point of a lower unit. In another aspect two or more maze units are interconnected end-to-end on the same level. Methods are disclosed for the use of such mazes in a variety of didactive scenarios.
An integrated prefabricated furniture is provided for finishing or fitting-out open plan building spaces, such as for offices, classrooms, hotels/motels, conference centers, medical treatment facilities, etc. A demountable architectural wall system covers the fixed walls of the building room, a portable partition wall system defines the interior space into individual work settings, and a demountable movable wall system forms custom width partitions. The three wall systems are completely compatible and fully integrated in both function and appearance, and provide similar utility raceways at common heights, as well as interchangeable cover panels. A modular column cover system selectively covers the support columns in the building room, and provides vertical utility routing and storage that integrates with the raceways in the wall systems. Pre-assembled facades, the freestanding storage case system, a space frame system, a prefabricated low raised floor construction, a modular overhead link head system, and accessories are disclosed and are designed to be used anywhere throughout the furniture system, and to serve to personalize the various individual work settings to accommodate specific users and tasks. Advantageously, the furniture system is readily reconfigurable.
A water targeting game (10), known as WATER TAG™. The game (10) consists of three major elements: a targeting vest (12), a water gun (140) and an obstruction maze (142) wherein the game is played. The targeting vest (12) includes a front vest (14) and a back vest (16) that are joined together at their upper peripheral edge (26) by a pair of adjustable shoulder straps (70) and that are adjusted at a person's waist by a pair of waist straps (74,76). Between the two vests is a cavity (56) and on the front section (42) of the vest, is located a plurality of water collecting openings (58) that serve as targets. When playing the game, the water gun emits a stream of water that is aimed at the openings (58) from where the water falls into the cavity (56). The water collected in the cavities (56) is viewed through a sealed vertical window (62) that is also located on the vest's front section (42). A WATER TAG™ game (10) that consists of a maze structure (14) having an outer perimeter wall (16) enclosing a plurality of sections (20,22,24,26) and protrusions (40). An opening (36) admits players armed with water guns (12) into the maze structure (14). Once inside the players circulate among the sections (20,22,24,26) and the protrusions (40), firing their water guns (12) at each other. The maze structure (14) is inflated when the WATER TAG™ game is being played and can be deflated for storage and transportation.
A constructable spinning top maze kit having a base upon which rail pieces may be removably mounted to form a maze through which the spinning top may travel when launched from a launcher. Multiple bases may be joined together in a single plane to create an indefinitely-extendable maze, or multiple bases may be assembled in multiple planes to create an indefinitely-extendable multi-level maze. Because rail pieces are removably mounted on the base pieces, a maze may be disassembled and reconstructed to form another maze have a completely different geometry, or one or more rail pieces may be repositioned to less drastically alter the geometry of the maze. As with the rail pieces, the launcher may be removably mounted on the base pieces. Therefore, the launcher may be positioned at a variety of locations in a maze, easily repositioned, and used within a variety of maze geometries. One or more pins may be placed on the base to provide a game with the objective of launching the top in a manner such that it will knock over the pins. The rail pieces may have downward-directed dowels with spacings which are integer multiples of a unit distance, and the base may have holes separated by the unit distance into which the dowels of the rail pieces may be inserted, thereby maximizing the number of rail configurations on the base.